It’s the hair-raising countdown to a new millennium, and Cosmo Dust watches in dismay as the wreckage of his life comes into garish focus in the glow of post-Sinatra Las Vegas. Surrounded by the simulacra of Western civilization, Cosmo finds himself strong-armed by the Golden Calf Casino into recreating the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel: a task that makes a mockery of both Michelangelo’s genius and Cosmo’s skill.

Just when Cosmo has decided to quit this job to search for something real, Reality trumps him by making him the chief suspect in the murder of a cocktail waitress. Joining forces with the daughter of the Pope of Las Vegas, the local mob boss, he tries to piece together who’s killing whom and why. Navigating a world that subverts rational motivation, Cosmo and the Pope’s daughter encounter film-noir homicide detectives, Gnostic monks, a Vatican Inquisitor, and a baby who may or may not be the messiah.

A masterfully written novel that is part romantic comedy, part dysfunctional detective story, The Madonna of Las Vegas exuberantly explores the quest for a genuine life in a world built on false appearances.

"With its faux Eiffel Tower, replica Gotham City and copycat Venice, Las Vegas is arguably the most postmodern city in the world. And in Gregory Blake Smith's intelligent, high-octane new novel, it's painter Cosmo Dust's job to add one more layer of ersatz reality to the city's over-the-top veneer of kitsch — he is charged with creating a copy of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Las Vegas's Golden Calf casino, but has resigned, paralyzed with grief, after the murder of his wife, Cathy. The casino owner, known as the pope of Las Vegas, repeatedly threatens Cosmo with cement shoes if he doesn't finish the job; Cosmo then becomes ensnared in a murder investigation that may or may not involve the pope of Las Vegas's daughter (who may or may not be the actual daughter of Pope John Paul I). Using Las Vegas as a brilliant backdrop, Smith pushes and pulls his characters around within a lengthy meditation on what's real and what isn't. And while he weaves an engrossing and funny tale and writes terrific dialogue, by the end, he has layered on so many big ideas ('possibility clouds,' 'counter-Earth,' 'non-Cartesian counterfactuals,' etc.) that the structure of the story begins to collapse under its own weight. (On sale Aug. 23)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Welcome to present-day, post-Sinatra Las Vegas, a surreal world where history, art, and civilization are prominently displayed, but utterly empty of meaning. It is here that we meet Cosmo Dust, an artist who's been hired to re-create the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the Golden Calf Casino. It's a task that's a mockery of both Michelangelo's genius and Cosmo's skill and training, but he needs a job--and something to get his mind off the recent murder of his wife. But soon he is implicated in another murder (this is Las Vegas, after all), so he's forced to hook up with another suspect, the daughter of the local mob boss. As they delve into the inner workings of Vegas to clear their names, they find themselves going backstage in a world where meaning is often flipped, and where the fake and the real are interchangeable. Mixing elements of a classic whodunit with a very modern love story. The Madonna of Las Vegas is a truly original tale that explores the big question: What is real?

Mixing elements of a classic whodunit with a very modern love story, "The Madonna of Las Vegas" is a truly original tale about an artist and the daughter of a local mob boss, who enter a world where meaning is often flipped, and where the fake and the real are interchangeable.

Gregory Blake Smith is the author of The Devil in the Dooryard and The Divine Comedy of John Venner, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He teaches American literature and creative writing at Carleton College.